In the space of just a few years, the Internet—because it provides access to information, and the ability to publish information, in revolutionary ways—has emerged from relative obscurity to international prominence. Whereas in general an internet is a network of networks, the Internet is a global collection of interconnected local, mid-level, and wide-area networks that use the Internet Procotol (IP) as the network layer protocol. Whereas the Internet embraces many local- and wide-area networks, a given local- or wide-area network may or may not form part of the Internet.
As the Internet and its underlying technologies have become increasingly familiar, attention has become focused on Internet security and computer network security in general. With unprecedented access to information has also come unprecedented opportunities to gain unauthorized access to data, change data, destroy data, make unauthorized use of computer resources, interfere with the intended use of computer resources, etc. As experience has shown, the frontier of cyberspace has its share of scofflaws, resulting in increased efforts to protect the data, resources, and reputations of those embracing intranets and the Internet.
Firewalls are intended to shield data and resources from the potential ravages of computer network intruders. In essence, a firewall functions as a mechanism which monitors and controls the flow of data between two networks, or a network and a device. All communications, e.g., data packets, which flow between the networks in either direction must pass through the firewall; otherwise, security is circumvented. The firewall selectively permits the communications to pass from one network to another network or device, to provide bidirectional security.
Recently, there has been much work on software applications referred to as “personal firewalls.” These applications are typically installed on a computer or any other computing device for protecting against unsecure networks coupled thereto. During use of such personal firewalls, network traffic is monitored and filtered based on a predetermined set of rules. Such rules may include any filtering criteria that are configured to protect the device from intrusion activity. For example, such criteria may result in: the prevention of computers having certain IP addresses from accessing the protected device, precluding access to certain ports associated with the protected device, the prevention of certain applications from accessing the protected device, etc. During use, a vast number of events may occur where network traffic is prevented based on the filtering criteria.
Often, a user may desire to modify the filtering criteria to tailor security for a particular device. Further, the user may wish to monitor the events to assess the current state of security of the device for the purposes of modifying the filtering criteria in the foregoing manner. With the state of security being extremely dynamic, there is a need to assess security and configure the personal firewall in a manner that is quick and effective. Unfortunately, prior art graphical user interfaces that allow a user to carry out such tasks are not integrated, and are cumbersome to use. For example, prior art personal firewalls merely list events, requiring the user to manually filter and analyze the data for the purpose of making a conclusion as to the current state of security of the device.
There is thus a need for an interface system and method capable of facilitating the assessment of a current state of security of a device and the configuration process associated with a personal firewall used to protect such device.